Liquid Crystalline Blue Phases - Liquid Crystalline Functional Assemblies and Their Supramolecular Structures - page 109

Fig. 9 Chemical structure of the ferrocene-based chiral Schiff 's base derivative [17]
Fig. 10 Chemical structure of the chiral palladium complex [18]
a 2,4-disubstituted oxazoline ring have been shown to induce blue phases
when they are added to the host mixture at low concentrations [19]. New
chiral discotic triphenylene derivatives exhibit a blue phase and a ferroelec-
trically switchable columnar mesophase [20]. Many interactions are involved
in the doping effect of chiral dopants to host liquid crystals to induce blue
phases [21].
7
Expanding the Stable Temperature Range of Blue Phases
Frank, who is famous for his theory of liquid crystal elasticity, once said of
blue phases, “They are totally useless, -”, indicating that while academically
interesting, no practical applications can be expected of such phases. Stand-
ing in the way of any practical application of blue phases is, obviously, the
narrow temperature range at which they appear. Although the unique char-
acteristics of blue phases are very attractive, the temperature range at which
they are available is only on the order of 1 K, which prohibits considera-
tion with regard to potential applications. Recently, however, there have been
some attempts to expand this temperature range.